Letter: More listening and less talking

As I watch the gun debate and the horrible attempts to discredit the survivors of the shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School, I am reminded of the old adage that “We have two ears and one mouth so that we might listen twice as much as we speak.” We as a country spend a lot of time talking over each other in these debates. I am wary of anybody who points to one solution to fix such a multifaceted problem as gun violence in the United States.

On this note, the Deseret News reported on Rep. Mia Love stating that she is “open to listening to everything." And that not doing so “would be doing our children and our country a disservice." I appreciate Rep. Love setting the tone as we continue with this discussion on how we will keep ourselves and our children safe.

I realize that many interventions are necessary to reach an effective solution. The answers lie somewhere between banning all guns and turning our schools into doomsday bunkers. Finding solutions that work will take research, compromise and, above all, closing our mouths long enough to listen.